Wireless headphones receive an audio signal from a source media device, such as a phone, computer, tablet computer, television, gaming console, etc., and produce an audible acoustic sound output to the ear(s) of the user. Wireless headphones include a power source, such as a battery, since the power for driving the acoustic drivers (speakers) is not provided by the source media device providing the audio signal. Wireless headphones are commercially available in over-ear, on-ear, and in-ear configurations.
The audio signal is commonly provided to the headphones from the source media device using BLUETOOTH® technology, but other wireless communication protocols may also be employed, such as WiFi or infrared (IR) technology, for example.
Wireless headphones commonly include a power control input (e.g., a button) that is used to power the headphones on and off. The power control input is commonly also used to operationally pair the headphones with an associated media device that will provide an audio signal to the headphones by holding the actuation of the power control input for a relatively longer period of time than that used to power the headphones on and off. Wireless headphones may also include volume control input(s) for increasing and decreasing the volume of the audible acoustic sound output to the ear(s) of the user.
Due to the fact that wireless headphones are battery operated, wireless headphones have included a female headphone jack receptacle and a removable audio cable that may be used in the event that the battery is drained or in circumstances in which wireless operation may be prohibited, such as on an airplane, for example. The removable audio cable may include an inline module that includes a microphone and one or more control inputs, such as buttons, for providing input signals (e.g., a voice signal and/or operational control signals) to the media device (e.g., a smartphone) to which the headphone is attached.
For example, some removable audio cables include an inline module that includes a microphone and one control button. The control button may be used to control certain features of the media device to which the headphone is connected. For example, the media device may be a smartphone, and the control button may be used to answer and end phone calls, play or pause an audio signal, and skip forward or backward media files in a list of media files, depending on when and how the button is pressed. An inline module and an operational protocol configured for use with smartphones may run on an ANDROID® operating system or other operating system. Other inline modules for wired headphones may include more control inputs (e.g., three control inputs), which adds to the number of control operations that may be performed by the user.